Exodus II Notes Week 6

Preaching Meeting Notes:

Sailhamer - “the dynamic view”

The relationship Abraham had with God was to be the norm

these people had the chance to be the kingdom of priests, but essentially they said we don’t want that, we want Moses as an intermediary

maybe the FCF is ‘we don’t really want to be on mission for God’ we want our leaders to do it, we want someone else to do it

the law was meant to be a tutor to lead you to me

Also, connected to the end of Judges when they want a king over them like the other nations

Additional Notes

Call to Worship

The blow of the rams horn is a signal to gather the assembly for worship = call to worship

Exodus 19:13 (EBC Ge-Le (Rev)): In this case the sustained blast accompanies the presence of Yahweh; elsewhere it signals the alarm for war or the summons for assembly or worship (Lev 25:9; 2 Ch 15:14; Pss 47:5; 81:3; Isa 27:13).

to Meet with God

Exodus 19:17 (EBC Ge-Le (Rev)): 17 לִקְרַאת הָאֱלֹהִים (liqraʾt hāʾelōhîm) is rendered “to meet with God.” Although the verb qāraʾ is usually used for people meeting each other (4:14, 27; 18:7), it becomes another word in Israel’s worship vocabulary

Text Notes:

Intro: Exod 19:3-6

What God has done:

You have SEEN MY SALVATION (Exo 19:3-4)

Our Proper Response: (Exo 19:5-6)

If you would “listen listen” to ME

KEEP my Covenant

What God has promised:

You will BE MY OWN POSSESSION (unique among all people) - Belonging

You will be MY KINGDOM OF PRIESTS

You will be MY HOLY NATION

1 Peter 2:9 CSB

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Moses & The People (Exod 19:7-8)

Moses tells the people

The people say “YES! We will do this”

NT - Parable of Two Sons

Matthew 21:28–32 CSB

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘My son, go work in the vineyard today.’ 29 “He answered, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later he changed his mind and went. 30 Then the man went to the other and said the same thing. ‘I will, sir,’ he answered, but he didn’t go. 31 Which of the two did his father’s will?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him. Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; but you, when you saw it, didn’t even change your minds then and believe him.

The Lord and Moses (Exod 19:9-13)

9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you and will always believe you.”

Moses brings the Word of the People to the Lord

The LORD says

I am going to appear in a cloud

I am going to speak to them directly

so that they will always believe you

With rules and boundaries.

Wash their clothes

put a boundary — do not come to the mountain (do not even touch it)

Ram’s horn?

on the Third Day?

Moses instructs the people (Exod 19:14-15)

consecrate, wash, be prepared on the third day

do not have sexual relations

The People before God (Exod 19:16-25)

Exodus 19:16 CSB “16 On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud blast from a ram’s horn, so that all the people in the camp shuddered.

They come to the foot of the mountain

Exodus 19:18–19 CSB

18 Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. 19 As the sound of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.

The Lord comes down on the top of Sinai (Exod 19:20)

Further warning

Moses goes back down.

The Lord Speaks (Exod 20:1-17)

The Ten Commandments (Exod 20:1-17)

The People’s Reaction (Exod 20:18-21)

They trembled — terrified

Please don’t let God speak to us, You, Moses speak to us, and we will listen

MOSES

Don’t be afraid (What?? yea right!)

God has come to test you

SO THAT you will Fear (revere) him and will not sin

Moses enters the total darkness

God acquiesces to their request and speaks through Moses to them.

Thoughts

What an interesting event. They have come to Sinai. The Lord wishes to reveal himself to his people. He has been provided for them. Now he wants to reveal himself to them in all his glory SO THAT they will fear and revere him and will obey (not sin).

This is an utterly terrifying experience form them. They literally are scared straight (for a time). So overwhelming is the expeirence that the plead with Moses to have no more. God is TOO MUCH for them. As Isaiah says “woe to me, I am a man of unclean lips). Please they say, speak to us through Moses, someone we can relate to someone we can understand.

In this it is a picture of Jesus. The incarnation, is a way in which God would be with us and speak with us that we could receive and be instructed

God’s mercy in coming in Jesus.

His presence is too much, we would die.

God shows moses his glory later.

No one may see God and live (Exo 33?)

In this whole episode it is the assembly before the mountain, God speaks, the people freak and Moses ascends the mountain in darkness. He comes back down in Exod 24:3, and tells them all the commands. The people agree with a single voice “YES we will do this.” They worship before the lord, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and 70 elders. The worship the Lord (Exod 24:1-8).

Exodus 24:9–11 CSB

9 Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. 11 God did not harm the Israelite nobles; they saw him, and they ate and drank.

Really interesting description here.

God calls Moses and Joshua back up to the mountain to receive the tablets, law and commandments (Exod 24:12). Moses goes up for 40 days and 40 nights (Exod 24:18)

He is there for 40 days and nights, receiving the Law, the tabernacle instructions and other laws. During that time the people rebel with the Golden calf and Moses is interrupted to deal with that.

Even in this is a picture of Moses (Jesus) ascending to be with God as we await for his return.

Just as they became impatient and worshipped idols

That is the ever present temptation for us as we await Jesus’ second coming

But Moses intercedes, he destroys the idol, grinds it and makes them eat it and talks with God, pleading him to relent according to his very nature and purpose. Moses, declares, that God’s name will be made great through a people, precisely becuase he is with them.

God relents and is with his people, becuase of his favor, grace, with Moses (again 1 man = Jesus).

Moses then asks to see more of God’s glory and God says yes and we have the famous revealing of the name of the Lord Exo 34:6-7 .

So it begins with God’s Awesome Glory and Holiness and ends with God’s unbounded mercy and grace.

Exodus 34:6–7 CSB

6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

All of this points to the Cross.

Hebrews 12 Connection

There is powerful connection here to Hebrews 12. This trembling before the lord. This whole episode is really about this ‘assembly’ before God, Moses ascent to the mountain for 40 days and nights. The people’s rebellion with the golden calf, Moses intercession and the covenant renewal.

Hebrews 12:14 CSB

14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness—without it no one will see the Lord.

Hebrews 12:18–21 CSB

18 For you have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom, and storm, 19 to the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of words. Those who heard it begged that not another word be spoken to them, 20 for they could not bear what was commanded: If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned. 21 The appearance was so terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with fear.

Hebrews 12:22–24 CSB

22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels, a festive gathering, 23 to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to a Judge, who is God of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.

Hebrews 12:25–29 CSB

25 See to it that you do not reject the one who speaks. For if they did not escape when they rejected him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven. 26 His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. 27 This expression, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what is not shaken might remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

Deut

Deuteronomy 9:9–11 CSB 9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant the Lord made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I did not eat food or drink water. 10 On the day of the assembly the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by God’s finger. The exact words were on them, which the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain. 11 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, at the end of the forty days and forty nights.

Concluding thoughts

There is a powerful picture here of the gathering (assembly) of God’s people before the glory of the Lord to hear the word of the lord and to experience his power & presence.

God wants to reveal himself to them.

Not just in his salvific works

but in his sustaining presence.

He wants the people to listen and obey him so that

They will be HIS possession

They will be HIS kingdom of priests (mediators of God’s presence — the kingdom)

A Holy Nation

Moses says as much

Exodus 20:20 CSB

20 Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and will not sin.”

Isn’t this none other than become like me.

Discipleship to Jesus Christ (Rom 8:29)

Heb 12

God’s GLORY is revealed in his HOLINESS and HIS MERCY & GRACE

Commentary Notes

NIVAPP

Exod 19 is the fulfillment of Exod 3:12

Moses is back on the very mountain where God promised him.

obedience does not merit salvation, it is the response to it

Exodus Original Meaning

Not only are the Israelites to remember what God has done, but that memory is to motivate them to obey (v. 5).

The law he now gives is the subsequent stage in Israel’s developing relationship with God. It is what is expected of a people already redeemed.

The people do not earn their salvation; but once saved, they are obligated to act in a manner worthy of their high calling. This is true in the New Testament as well (see Eph. 4:1; 2 Thess. 1:11).

Covenant about Abraham not Mosaic in Exo 19:5

Most commentators understand that the covenant here is what will be revealed in the following chapters, that is, God’s law. Such thinking is understandable, but I am convinced that this is not the case. W. Dumbrell has argued convincingly that “covenant” in verse 5 does not refer to what is about to transpire, but what has gone on before, namely, the covenant with the patriarchs.

The clause “keep my covenant” is a call to Israel to remain faithful to the covenant initiated with Abraham—the covenant that will be given greater substance in the following chapters

This is an utterly terrifying experience form them. They literally are scared straight (for a time). So overwhelming is the experience that the plead with Moses to have no more. God is TOO MUCH for them. As Isaiah says “woe to me, I am a man of unclean lips). Please they say, speak to us through Moses, someone we can relate to someone we can understand.

1) A “treasured possession” (Heb. segullah) can mean a number of things; here it means that Israel is royal property

Kingdom of priests,” therefore, is not an anachronism. Rather, it is a statement of the manner in which God will use Israel with respect to the rest of the nations.

This is where the third phrase, “holy nation,” comes in. Both “kingdom of priests” and “holy nation” are to be taken together, if not as identical then at least as clearly supporting each other. As a kingdom of priests, Israel is set apart (which is what “holy” means) from the other nations. Israel is different, since she is a “treasured possession.” This is God’s peculiar people, and so they will be separate. But Israel is not separate in the sense of living in isolation from the other nations. As holy and priestly, Israel is the means by which God will, as his plan unfolds more and more, bring the nations to have knowledge of him.

Temple analogy

According to this division, the top of the mountain, to which Moses alone has access, corresponds to the Most Holy Place. Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders have access to the mountain but not its summit; this corresponds to the Holy Place. The rest of the people stay at the foot of the mountain, which corresponds to the outer court where the laity gather.

It also highlights the fact that the tabernacle itself is an earthly reflection of God’s heavenly abode. In other words, the mountain does not mirror the tabernacle; the structure of the tabernacle is patterned after the mountain.

Burning bush = burning mountain

Again, one cannot but think of Exodus 3 and Moses’ initial encounter with God where he appeared to Moses in the burning bush.

Israel is now participating in the experience of Moses, their mediator

In response to this, it is not just the people who tremble but the mountain itself. This is not an uncommon phenomenon used to describe God’s presence (see Ps. 18:7; 97:5; 104:32; 144:5).

God speaks the 10 Commandments to the people

Exodus The Setting and Prologue (20:1–2)

This verse is worded closely to 19:16 (thunder, lightning, trumpet, smoke/cloud), which suggests that both refer to the same event; that is, 20:18 resumes the action of 19:16 after the “interlude” of the Ten Commandments.

Exodus The Setting and Prologue (20:1–2)

Another solution is simplest of all. Since 19:25 has Moses descending and 20:21 has him ascending, perhaps the intervening material (20:2–17) is spoken by God to Moses and all the people at the foot of the mountain. We must remember that the people are not permitted to ascend the mountain. The people’s reaction in verse 19, “speak to us yourself,” implies that they have just heard God speaking in verses 2–17; they ask Moses to make sure this doesn’t happen again. This is a solution I am willing to live with, for the time being at least, although this, too, may prove difficult to maintain at every point throughout Exodus. As we will see, Moses’ ascents and descents of Mount Sinai are a challenge to keep straight.

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 20

20:1 When God spoke all these words, he did so in such a way that all the people could hear. Cf. the repeated description of the sights and sounds of the Lord’s presence on Mount Sinai (19:16–20; 20:18); and “I have talked with you from heaven” (v. 22).

The people’s response

Exodus The Epilogue (20:18–21)

The Hebrew word for “lightning” (plural of lappid, v. 18) is unusual. Its only other use in the Pentateuch is in Genesis 15:17, where it refers to the “torch” that passed between the animal carcasses that Abraham had cut in half.

This is significant, only here and in God’s covenant promise to Abraham,

that he should be ripped in two if he doesn’t keep his word

Exodus The Epilogue (20:18–21)

It is apparently such a frightful experience that they fear for their lives. As we have seen in 19:16, this is not the reaction one might have expected. Certainly God’s enemies should flee from his face, but his own special people!?

Experiencing God’s Glory

Exodus The Epilogue (20:18–21)

(2) What kind of “test” is Moses talking about? The Hebrew verb nsh, often translated “to test,” should not be understood in the sense of “finding out” how the Israelites will perform or react to something. God is not revealing himself in thunder and lightning to see how the people will react. It is much more convincing to translate the word here as “experience.”30

In other words, verse 20 can be paraphrased: “Do not be afraid. God is giving you a taste of himself so that this memory will stick with you to keep you from sinning.”

This is amazing.

It is the experience of God’s GLORY that compels us to obedience

It is not fear of the LORD as in be afraid, but in reverence b/c of who he is.

This is the same in the NT

It is experiencing God’s grace, (the gospel) the indicative that leads us to obey him out of love

It’s the same then as now.

there is a difference between knowing about God, and experiencing God (knowing him personally)

The latter changes us.

Expositors Commentary

The whole nation is to act as a mediator of God’s grace to the nations of the earth, even as Abraham was promised that through him and his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Ge 12:3

Additional Notesto be kings and priests to God on behalf of the nations; they are to be mediators of the gospel as missionaries to the nations (“all people on earth will be blessed through you,” Ge 12:3b); and they are to be partakers in the present aspects and coming reality of the “kingdom of God

Exodus 19:9 (EBC Ge-Le (Rev)): The voice of God speaking to Moses (cf. Dt 4:32–33) is also audible in the camp so that Israel and all her true descendants will trust in Moses’ words both then and for all time.

Exodus 19:9 (EBC Ge-Le (Rev)): God speaks to Moses in the hearing of the people so that they will know that the word Moses teaches is from God and not Moses himself

Exodus 19:16–19 (EBC Ge-Le (Rev)): A deep moral impression is made on the people, for they are in the presence of the glorious majesty of the holy God, who is about to reveal his person and character in his law

Exodus 20:20–21 (EBC Ge-Le (Rev)): and salutary fear (which promotes and demonstrates the presence of an attitude of complete trust and belief in God; cf. the “fear of the Lord God” beginning in Ge 22:12

Exodus 20:18 (EBC Ge-Le (Rev)): The root nwʿ of וַיָּנֻעוּ (wayyānuʿû, “they trembled with fear”) conveys the ideas of being physically swayed and experiencing great mental agitation and emotional trembling.

Concluding Thoughts

This is such a rich section. It is a picture of God’s people. Saved, Chose and loved by God. And set out for a purpose, to reveal God’s love for people that they might turn to Him. God is gracious!

Yet God is Glory. To see God as he is, would be terrifying, but it is the God who has loved us. What power! What majesty! Yet we could not believe it, Israel could not take it. Sin one that day. Woe to me. I am unclean. I need to keep my distance!

I am not worthy or God’s love. I’m not worthy to be in such great presence. Send another instead, a mediator. I can’t bear it. This is God’s glory’s effect.

Only Jesus could bear the glory of God and the sin of man. He is our mediator, and he is perfecting us through his perfection so we too can stand before God and be in God’s presence for all time as his treasured possession, his very bride.

Key Verses

Exodus 19:4–6 CSB 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, 6 and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”

Exodus 19:9 CSB 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you and will always believe you.”

Exodus 19:16–20 CSB 16 On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud blast from a ram’s horn, so that all the people in the camp shuddered. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. 19 As the sound of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder. 20 The Lord came down on Mount Sinai at the top of the mountain. Then the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and he went up.

Exodus 20:18–19 CSB 18 All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the ram’s horn, and the mountain surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it they trembled and stood at a distance. 19 “You speak to us, and we will listen,” they said to Moses, “but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.”

Exodus 20:20 CSB 20 Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and will not sin.”

1 Peter 2:9 CSB

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Deuteronomy 5:22–32 CSB 22 “The Lord spoke these commands in a loud voice to your entire assembly from the fire, cloud, and total darkness on the mountain; he added nothing more. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me. 23 All of you approached me with your tribal leaders and elders when you heard the voice from the darkness and while the mountain was blazing with fire. 24 You said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that God speaks with a person, yet he still lives. 25 But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. 26 For who out of all humanity has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 Go near and listen to everything the Lord our God says. Then you can tell us everything the Lord our God tells you; we will listen and obey.’ 28 “The Lord heard your words when you spoke to me. He said to me, ‘I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. Everything they have said is right. 29 If only they had such a heart to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that they and their children would prosper forever. 30 Go and tell them: Return to your tents. 31 But you stand here with me, and I will tell you every command—the statutes and ordinances—you are to teach them, so that they may follow them in the land I am giving them to possess.’ 32 “Be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or the left.

Deuteronomy 7:7–8 ESV 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love (חשׁק longed for you) on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you (אַהֲבָה 1, has affection for you) and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 9:9–11 CSB 9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant the Lord made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I did not eat food or drink water. 10 On the day of the assembly the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by God’s finger. The exact words were on them, which the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain. 11 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, at the end of the forty days and forty nights.

Deuteronomy 18:15–19 ESV 15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

Genesis 12:1–3 CSB 1 The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Genesis 15:10–21 CSB 10 So he brought all these to him, cut them in half, and laid the pieces opposite each other, but he did not cut the birds in half. 11 Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was setting, a deep sleep came over Abram, and suddenly great terror and darkness descended on him.

13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know this for certain: Your offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved and oppressed. 14 However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions. 15 But you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

17 When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the divided animals.

18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I give this land to your offspring, from the Brook of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River: 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hethites, Perizzites, Rephaim, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

Coming Weeks:

Today: The Experience of God

Next week: The Words of God

Two Weeks: The Words of God applied to that nation and day

Three Weeks: Preparing for the Worship of God — Sin and Grace

Four Weeks: Easter

Five Weeks: Sin, Rebellion & Idolatry — the failure of the human heart

Six Weeks: The Intercession — Moses saves the people

Seven Weeks: The Glory of God revealed to Moses

Eight Weeks: The Tabernacle Constructed

Nine Weeks: The Tabernacles Filled with the Glory of the Lord: God is present.